Sunday, March 30, 2014

Commitment...

"...it is the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently following through on that decision. When people are genuinely committed, they have real intent, meaning that they fully intend to do what they have committed to do. They make an unwavering and earnest decision to change. They become devoted to Christ and dedicate themselves to His gospel."

Juice boxes and brownies are perfect for boys at every age!

Lovin' after church snacks...

ELDER CARDON - ELDER BICKLEY - ZONE LEADERS in TULANCINGO

"Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish."

PMG p.146

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Caught in the "web" of missionary work and LOVING IT!

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Vera Cruz Temple Trip

In our last transfer of missionaries into the mission we had four that had not had the opportunity to attend the temple prior to their mission service. Because the Mexico City Temple is closed for the next 18-24 months for remodeling they were unable to take out their own endowments prior to arrival to Pachuca. The Mexico City MTC called to notify us of their needs and of our responsibility to complete that process. So we this week took them to the Vera Cruz Temple which is the closet to our mission a ( 5 hr drive). We had to arrive the night before to purchase their clothing as that little store is only open from 330-530 pm. The Vera Cruz temple is small and absolutely beautiful as it sits near the beach area of this tropical city. It was so hot and humid compared to Pachuca I wished I had my flip flops, tanning lotion, and beach chair. The temple usually has only one session a day and has had more visitors since the closure of the Mexico City Temple. We were scheduled Wednesday morning for the 0900 session. It was a wonderful trip and the people were so kind and accommodating.

Purchasing the items needed in the little store and eating some dinner before calling it a night. This little store is located in one of the small classrooms in the church located in the parking lot of the temple grounds.

Headed back home to Pachuca..

These four missionaries great companions came back to pick them up and also grabbed a bite of pizza. We hadn't eaten all day as we were anxious to get home and get two Elders on the bus headed back to their area which was another 3.5 hour bus ride. It will be a late late night for them... anticipated arrival 1000 PM in Molango. Thanks to all the missionaries who re-arranged their schedules and work days to allow these four missionaries to attend the temple.

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Look at those "Shiny shoes"!

Our sweet Elder Beesley arrived back home last week for possible surgical repair/ and physical therapy on his knee. We anticipate his quick recovery and return. His wonderful mother sent this darling picture of them leaving for church after his arrival home and commented he was up before 0630 keeping the mission schedule and his brothers surprisingly found their beds made and shoes shined before their departure to church. I love that he is serving his family and continuing to be a missionary while at home as they instantly made him a ward missionary. Hurry back Elder Beesley...

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Hermana Anna Diaz was released from our mission Saturday morning just a few months shy of her completion date. She is requiring knee surgery and so we bid her farewell. We will miss that spunky personality and curly hair for sure! With these unplanned complications comes the need for missionaries to change companions and areas immediately. We so appreciate their willingness to help President Egbert and the work in the Mission; we recognize their ability and efforts in adapting to whatever is asked. Thank you to Hermana Peterson (below) who left her two companions and joined Hermana Rojas in her area.

Hna Schaumekl and Hna Gomez live above this fabric store and one has to walk through the store to the gate which leads to the stairs to climb the three levels to their apartment. Great area...

Sunday, March 23, 2014

"OUR MESSAGE IS SIMPLE..."

"Getting after it!"

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"Our duty is to preach the gospel to all men....This is what God Expects of us"

President John Taylor

This is a great story (above) as the man dressed in white gave the missionaries this ladies name as a reference and then he had the privilege of baptizing her on her baptism day. Great job Elder Hixon & Elder Felsted.

Elder Gomez and Elder Perez have been busy little "beavers" in the work!

Elder Zepeda and Elder Niro have taught this wonderful young man who will one day soon be a missionary himself- helping move The Work of Salvation forward.

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Ugh.... You keep stirring that pot of lunch Elder Gomez.

I think I'll fix President and I a sandwich.

Elder Gomez (District leader) and Elder Hirst (Zone Leader) in his last cycle...

Tezontepec Zone Capacitation- Look at this cute group, would ya?!!

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President Egbert

This week was a very good week when it came to lessons we
had. We have been working a lot in talking with everybody and it works great.
Sometimes they don´t accept the message too good, but like you said they almost
always give us names of other people that we can go visit. When I got the news
of my transfers I was a little sad, but that´s part of the mission, and I´m very
excited to see where I will be going and I'll work hard there too. Thank you for everything that you do,
see you tomorrow at Mission Wide Transfers....

Elder W

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District Meeting with Elder Zepeda (his last cycle)

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Happy Birthday Elder Fox

Here's to celebrating another 'trip' around the sun!

District mtg in Apan... Seriously Elder Santos can you crack a smile? Is it really that painful?

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Elder Hixon in his old stompin' grounds of Molango. The zone leaders went to check on Elder Vique and Elder Williams and held a district meeting with just them. They are so far removed from everyone that they are not able to travel weekly to attend a district meeting. What a fun day for everyone involved. And this is the little "House of Prayer" the church rents for services @ the Molango branch.

You can see why this area is coveted by all the missionaries. Everyone wants to serve here. But for now, we just have one companionship and its about a 3.5-4 hr bus ride into Pachuca. This is the area where they baptize in a waterfall because we have no baptismal font. AWESOME

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The Tecamac Trouble Makers...

Just kidding, actually this group of Elders right here might just hold the record for most baptisms consistently through the mission. These particular Elders have work ethic unparalleled. They consistently teach 40+ lessons a week and thus have baptisms consistently. President is very proud of their efforts and it does not go unnoticed.

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President-

We had another great week here in our area, even with my
companion sick for 1/2 day we
still got very close to reaching the standards of excellence. I know that we
will be able to achieve them this week with a full week of working diligently
and opening our mouth in every situation. we have seen many more blessings of
this technique this last week. we found three or four more people to teach
while looking for an address, knocking on doors seeing if they knew the person
or where the house number was at. These people truly are blessings from God and
i am very happy that we have been able to find them to teach. This week we also
had some great progress with one of our investigators, she was
less than excited the week before to read and study, and when we knocked on the
door we would never know if we were going to be kindly accepted or rudely rejected,
the week before we had the chance to go to her house with our district leader and
teach her. He helped her realize that she is a child of God and that with this
church she will be able to be happy every day, but we need to look for, and
follow the Lords will. This week we went back to see how she was doing, and she
has been studying the scripture guide in the back of the BOM every day. she was
quoting scripture passages to use, and teaching us for example when when we
were testifying of the trails that we have had in our lives she said well we
need to have opposition in all things, but if we follow the plan God has for us
we will always be happy in the end. She has asked us a few more times now, what
else do i need to do to be baptized. she is very excited to be baptized to
receive more peace and happiness and to be a better person. When we were talking
with her you could truly see that she was much happier, that she had the light
of Christ in her and that she had been feeding her hungry soul that had been longing
for this gospel and for the scriptures. This week we also found more of the
needs of the people that we have been teaching, and we have been trying to
get more members to work with us, it just seems to be that every time we have a
member with us all of the appointments fall through, but i think it is just a
trail of our faith and the faith and diligence of the members, i know that we
will have more success this week and that we will be blessed for being diligent
and obedient. Everything is great here, i am loving! hope all goes well with
cambios tomorrow! Let me know if i can do anything in specific to help you or
your wife out! Thanks again for all of the love support, help, guidance, and
encouragement to always be better, stronger, and to raise our standards to work
harder!

with much love,

Elder C

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Elder Campuzano (zone leader) and Elder Messick along with others from the area are preparing for mission wide transfers and a new set of sisters coming to their area. They found a house for them to rent and worked busily to prepare for their arrival. Thank goodness this Elder has knowledge of plumbing/electrical work- he installed a boiler (water heater) and a sink for the house. He had a great crew assisting him. Thank you for all your efforts on the mission's behalf as we expand and grow.

Do I see flames?!

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Our "Favorite Mondays" are when :

our new missionaries arrive. #17 in this generation, but only #16 arrived today as Elder Galo was sent a few weeks earlier.

Monday A.M. arrivals from the Mexico MTC. They are from all over the world including Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay

Monday night arrivals from the Provo,Utah MTC these sisters are from California, Arizona, Mississippi and Utah.

WELCOME TO THE MEXICO PACHUCA MISSION

Our Trusty Assistants with President that help make all this happen so smoothly. (Left-right) Elder Caballero, President Egbert, Elder Smith (newly called), and Elder Almaraz (going out to train his last cycle.)

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And then there were transfers...

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test

our courage and willingness to change; at such a

moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has

happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The

challenge will not wait...”

These two groups above were short lived- for 5 days. The Elder on the right-right was working in our mission for two weeks as he was waiting to return to Chili where he had been serving and had to return for a short time because of illness. He flew out Saturday A.M. 22nd March for Chili where they were anxiously awaiting his return.

Then Elder Beesley (2nd from the right) injured his knee on Thursday and flew home Saturday morning 22nd March for knee surgery scheduled for this Tuesday. Please keep him in your prayers. He will return after recovery, he even left his suitcases here : ) - if miracles happen he will return on April 28th with the next cycle of missionaries flying in. So then we took the missionary on the very left left (Elder Yazzie) and had him move to be companions with Elder Medina in the right picture with the suit on; and a new district leader Elder Clark was called to take on that assignment. Hope you all are not too confused.... See you soon Elder Beesley!

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Wow... I don't know who has more sleepless nights over incoming, outgoing, and transfers? Me or these missionaries.

I exhale a big sigh of relief when everyone is headed in buses, taxis, and members cars to their areas. Usually the next few days-up to a week, contain a higher volume of phone calls as missionaries struggle with the new adjustment to areas, houses, and new companions. It all settles down within a week ... and thankfully the kids start back to work as soon as they get to their areas. Its perfect as working hard in the field helps divert frustration, homesickness, and overwhelming thoughts of inadequacy.

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Outgoing

The Departure of Five Elders This Cycle

Officially my most un-favorite part of the incoming- transfers- outgoing event.... I dislike goodbyes!

"Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I'll miss you...until we meet again."

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Lunch on "President" for the assistants and Elder/Hermana Ramos on Thursday as everyone and everything starts to settle down from a hectic 3 days. The Ramos's have taken on ALOT more responsibility in the office so that we could have our recent Financial/Visa secretaries return to the field full time. Thank you to Elder Stucki and Elder Pena. Job well done... now go enjoy being missionaries full time.

Good ol' President Egbert standing on a concrete sink in the back of Hermana C Diaz/ Hermana Boone house at 900 pm at night trying to figure out why since transfers they haven't had hot water in their house nor water pressure to their shower. Its been a painful shower each morning with cold water and hardly enough pressure to brush your teeth. The poor sisters couldn't even get the shampoo out of their hair... but never fear President didn't give up and got some hot water headed to the shower and took off the shower head so its just a pipe coming out of the wall with a small stream of hot water...did I mention "small". The sisters didn't care...they were just grateful for the improvement.

All our sisters are TROOPERS... with very little complaint. Love them!